Articles

In 2006 I was alerted from inside the Department for Education and Skills that they had produced a report on black children and exclusions that was dynamite.

During the time I have been an MP in Hackney and Stoke Newington, I have met with hundreds of constituents to see how I can help them with problems relating to housing, immigration or education. Some of the most heartbreaking stories I hear come from mothers whose child has been permanently excluded from school.

Hackney schools are proving that every child really does matter with the help of a huge government investment. Last week I visited Berger Primary School during their international week and saw some of the building work that is going on there.

The 14th May saw the official opening of the incredible new Petchey Academy on Shacklewell Lane. Huge glass walls cover the exterior of the building, reflecting light and creating a striking image.

2008 has seen two tragic fatal stabbings in Hackney – Matalan store manager Jamie Simpson and 17-year old Devoe Roach. Every day there are reports in the papers about fights that get out of control and end in stabbings

In 1973 I arrived at Cambridge University to begin a degree in History. For me this was a great achievement – both as a black woman and as someone from a working-class background.

I ought to be applauding proposals to make Oxford, Cambridge and other 'top' universities take more poor students by threatening them with millions of pounds in cuts in research funding. For the social elitism of universities like Oxford and Cambridge is a subject close to my heart.

A NEW international survey of single-sex schools suggests that they do not necessarily produce better results than mixed schools.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS of murdered schoolboy Alex Kamondo posing with his gang, the Man Dem Crew, were sad and shocking. Shocking is how casually the boys pose with their guns the way, a generation ago, a similar group of boys would have posed with a football.

MY GRANDMOTHER, "Miss Di", lived all her life in the village of Smithville in rural Jamaica. The "Miss" was not a clue to her marital status.